


Ticking by

by Ghelik



Series: The 100 Fics [25]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 10:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghelik/pseuds/Ghelik
Summary: Murphy never really cared for the "soul-mate-clock" (SMC for short which, if you ask him, sounds like a fucking soft drink, but no one’s asking, so…) until he met Emori, that is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this prompt in the PotO Fandom on Tumblr and automatically had to fill it.   
> "a reverse timer/soulmate AU - instead of counting down to the moment they meet, the timer appears/starts at that moment and counts down the time they have left”  
> Enjoy ^^

Murphy stares at his wrist, eyes wide, mouth dry.

 

He knows what this means. He had learned about it at school and seen it on movies where people keep looking wishfully at their bare wrists until they inevitably brush against someone on the street and suddenly there’s a bunch of numbers and letters on smooth skin. People call it the ‘soul-mate-clock’ – SMC for short, which, if you ask him, sounds like a fucking soft drink, but no one’s asking, so…

 

Like every other child, Murphy went through a phase where he wanted the fucking SMC to appear. He was seven and his parents were the epitome of love, they glowed in each other’s presence, their clock ticking slowly by. The real meaning behind this fucked-up thing was lost on young childish Murphy.

 

It wasn’t long before he started seeing the damage the SMC made and decided he didn’t want anything to do with it.

 

At age eight he witnessed the numbers in his mother’s wrist slowly ticking to an end and how she drowned her growing sorrow, had seen it in the brutal murder of his neighbor when his wife discovered he had a SMC and she didn’t.

 

The clocks suck the love out of people, making them paranoid and scared and Murphy was actually pretty happy not having to go through that, even as his schoolmates began finding their partners, posting pictures of their SMCs online and generally flaunting for how long they would be happy. Rubbing it in.

 

Seeing how his mum took his father’s death, how she still blames him for it and keeps throwing random stuff at him whenever he comes to visit; seeing how sometimes the love runs out and the people just hide that from their neighbors for appearances’ sake, hating every second of their time together and making each other miserable, Murphy was very, _very_ glad he didn’t have any.

 

And then he crosses paths with Emori and the clock appears.

Murphy has known her for a week and a half which, had you asked him two weeks ago, is not nearly enough to form any sort of significant bond, but, again. No one seems to care for his input and he has changed his mind anyway.

 

They met because she ran him over with her bike. It might have been his own fault for not looking where he was going. She helped him regain all his belongings scattered around him. She was the one bleeding from her scraped knee. Emori offered to buy him coffee as an apology.

 

Murphy is not a person that usually gets along with people. He stays apart at work parties, tries to speak only with the same small handful of people he sort of trusts. Other than his mother – who hates him, but he goes to visit once a month anyway, because that is better than breaking a routine – is Raven, who is not only his only childhood friend, but also crippled because that accident he had at sixteen when he was trying to learn how to drive – the other driver was at fault, trying to reach their partner before the SMC ran out. In the end it was the driver who died and Raven was crippled for life -. But there was something special about Emori, the way she smiled at him and had hung half his bags – exactly half of them – on the handle of her bike.

 

The small handful of Raven’s friends that he tolerates – and tolerate him in return enough to invite out - keep nagging him to ‘go out more’. And here was Emori, offering him a way to show them all that he’s perfectly capable of ‘going out’ without their encouragement. Murphy might or might not be a little petty.

 

He has always been a realist, has never believed in love at first sight, the science behind the SMCs seems sketchy at best and, even though nobody believes he’s capable of it, he’s sort of scientifically inclined.

 

Then again, Emori’s smile is the most beautiful he’s ever seen. His heart beats faster whenever she’s in the room, his wit abandons him and he’s flustered and stammering like a teenaged schoolboy. She brings the better side of him and is the one person he actually _wants_ to spend time with.

Murphy chances a quick look down at his clock, rubbing absently at the numbers when Emori answers a question he’s already forgotten.

 

The way the light plays on her eyes is captivating. He could spend the rest of his days just looking at her. Her toothy smirk brightens his day. Her hand in his is freezing – she’s always so cold.

 

“When I get out of here we can get dinner at that fancy restaurant on Oak Street”, her voice is thin and without her headscarf she looks smaller, her skin is the perfect shade of gold.

 

“We’ll have lobster like posh people”, he tries to imitate a British accent from those shows she loves and that he’s been marathoning just to impress her. She snorts in a very unladylike way and his heart twists.

 

Murphy doesn’t want to look down on his wrist. Doesn’t want to miss a beat of this perfect little moment. Still, it’s like a magnet pulling on him and he chances one quick glance down. There’s only one hour left.

**Author's Note:**

> As always this was unbetad. Feel free to comment or contact me in tumblr or twitter. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.


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